My Grandpa died a few months back and my Dad has been cleaning and going through his house. We got all the handguns out awhile back. My Dad came by today and dropped off 4 shotguns. An old 12 ga hump back Browning with a Cutts Comp on the end. A plain 12 ga Remington 1100. A sweet old Winchester Model 12 20guage. When I say old I mean really old but that will be in another thread. But my question is about this old Remington pump shotgun. It is in 90-95% condition, its 16 guage. Kinda remindes me of a 870 but the way the barrel attaches is totally different. It really doesn't have a model number on it. I will try to attach pics in a few minutes. Any guesses of what I have?

Remington Model 10 or Model 31

Forgot to add that it has a gold trigger, high gloss on the wood and a polished blue on the steel. Heres the pics.

Attached Images

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	Photo1394.jpg (17.0 KB, 151 views)

Rem Model 31

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War Eagle! '10 BCS & '13 SEC

Thanks guys, got alot of cleaning and oiling to do tonight!

When I first started shooting trap in the mid-sixties, everybody wanted a Model 12. We were paying quite a premium for them, although thay had been out of production for only a couple of years. I asked a friend who had been shooting registered trap since the late forties what people sought out in those days. He said the Remington 31 was what everyone wanted then. When I got my hands on one, I could see why; they weren't called the ball bearing action for nothing! Talk about slick!

[QUOTE=bigolddave;136229874]When I first started shooting trap in the mid-sixties, everybody wanted a Model 12. We were paying quite a premium for them, although thay had been out of production for only a couple of years. I asked a friend who had been shooting registered trap since the late forties what people sought out in those days. He said the Remington 31 was what everyone wanted then. When I got my hands on one, I could see why; they weren't called the ball bearing action for nothing! Talk about slick![/QUOTE I might get some 16ga shells and shoot a few, clean and oil it and put her in the safe. When I was young my grandpa gave me a Remington 11-48 in 28 guage that I still shoot alot, sweet gun. I just found out that the Winchester Model 12that I got today was made in 1913, I'm a Remington man but this Winchester might be my new fave.

The late Don Zutz, who was as fine a shotgun writer as we'll probably ever see, told me that he always preferred the Model 31 Remington to the Winchester M-12.

Both are fine guns, but if Don said the M-31 was slicker, I bet it was. I haven't ever handled one, but respect his opinion.

The M-870 replaced the M-31 about 1950, because it was a lot cheaper to make. But the M-870 has since gained a lot of respect. It's endured a lot better than some thought it would when introduced.

Another thought on the M31.

Any older trap shooters here will recognize the name of Vic Reinders. He was a nationally known shooter from Wisconsin, with many trophies won at the Grand. Undoubtedly the best doubles shooter of his era; he always shot with a 31. This was the rattiest looking shotgun I have ever seen by the time I knew him. It was missing sections of the rib, had about 10% finish, both wood and metal. I only shot on a squad with him once. I was shooting a M12 trap, one of the very best ones. My firing pin broke, and I was getting a failure to fire about every three shots. Off the line he explained that while the M12 had some good qualities, the 31 was far superior. I have no idea how many rounds he had put through his shotgun, but at the time, he had been shooting it for at least forty years, and said he had NEVER had to replace a part.

Between shooting trap for many years, and being a gunnery instructor during WWII, I guess he knew what he was talking about.

I took the Remington 31 totally apart, used a hole can of gun scrubber on all the inards , I then polished all the moving parts ( more of a cleaning than polishing). Oiled the hell out of it and put it back together. It is the smoothest pump shotgun I have ever felt!